When ZTL chairman Subhash Chandra brought in R.K. Singh as chief executive and created a caucus of senior executives like Deepak Shourie, Dev Naganand, Uma Ganesh, everyone said that managing director Vijay Jindal had fallen out of favour with the mediapreneur and his days were numbered with ZTL. However, Jindal stayed put and the wags stopped wagging their tongues.Today, it become clear that it was only a matter of time. The company sent out a press release saying that "it has now been decided between the Company and Mr.Vijay Jindal that in order to harness his entrepreneurial capabilities the Company will support him to set up his own media investment company."

Jindal is slated to hold 60 per cent of the Rs 100 million equity capital of the new company with 40 per cent being held by ZTL. The press release additionally states that "following this Mr.Vijay Jindal will be relieved from the executive responsibilities of the company and would be Advisor to the promoter shareholder for a period of next three years."

The release quotes Chandra as saying "that the Group encouraged executives to graduate and become entrepreneurs. We are with them in their pursuit to realise their dreams."

The press release quotes Jindal as saying that he was "looking forward to getting into film production and various media related activities which will not be in conflict with the business interest of ZTL."

The decision was taken at the board meeting held yesterday to decide on the company‘s Q2 results. Following the acceptance of the new order, the board abolised the post of managing director with Deepak Shourie, R.K.Singh and Dev Naganand being appointed as wholetime Directors.

The government is likely to take a positive view on the recommendations of the Fali Nariman committee on convergence. Thus spoke communications minister Ram Vilas Paswan at a seminar on convergence organised by Assocham.

Telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh said that licensing powers will be with the super regulator, with even spectrum management issues being under its wing in consultation with the Wirless advisor.

On the balance, the first half results of the Zee Network (of which Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL) is a part) are not something worth shouting about.

The network has chalked up a total income of Rs 1861 million which is a 45 per cent increase over the previous corresponding half. Operating income is up 68 per cent to Rs 901 million, while profit after tax has risen 59 per cent to Rs 588 million.

While the results for the half year seem impressive, its quarter to quarter performance is most abyssmal, with advertising revenue falling to Rs 1382.4 million as against Rs 1591.3 million in the first quarter this year. This indicates that the company is losing advertising market share to nippier rivals like Sony, Star (what with its KBC), and the plethora of new channels that have cropped up. Expenditure too quarter to quarter is down from Rs 1566 million to Rs 1413.4 million. Total income for the network is down to Rs 2274.1 million from Rs 2298 million in the previous quarter. However, profit after tax for the network is up from Rs 320 million to Rs 543.5 million.

ZTL on its part has notched up an income of Rs 1049.6 million in the quarter ended 30 September 2000, with net profit at Rs 320.5 million and its earning per share at 78 paise per Re 1 share.

According to ZTL chief executive R.K. Singh, the results could have been better. But he is optimistic of a turn around in Q3.

"We have taken the number of IRDs in the market to 21,000 for our pay TV operations. We will take it up further to 30,000 by end November. Additionally, we are also starting new programming initiatives like the Rs 100 million game show and are taking our channels into new markets like Australia and the Caribbean. These should start showing up in the third quarter results. We will be back with much better numbers," he says.

The markets on the whole do not seem to be buying ZTL chairman Subhash Chandra and his team‘s reassurances. The share plunged at the end of the day‘s trading to Rs 297, after drifting around in the Rs 310 range. To be fair to ZTL, the market too took a dive as players booked profits before the weekend and the coming Diwali season.

Sushma Swaraj does not cease to surprise you. The first statement she made after taking over as I&B minister was that she wanted TV to be programmed for the family, and vulgarity in programmes should be curbed. She reiterated this at the launch of Zed TV in Mumbai a fortnight later.

She additionally told the journos that the group of ministers of DTH had almost finished their deliberations and a draft was ready. A decision of opening it up would be taken up in the next 10-15 days. Whether these are just empty promises or not only time will tell. Previous I&B ministers have made similar proclaimations only not to meet their commitments because of the various pulls and pressures.

She added that while a common regulator is needed for the information technology, communications and information and broadcasting ministries, there is no need to merge the three ministries into one. This would mean that she is headed for a clash with the Fali Nariman commmittee recommendation which is believed to have recommended that the three ministries be merged.

Another major development yesterday was the announcement that the entertainment sector (including films) had been notified as an industry, thus making it eligible to get loans from financial institutions.

Zee TV announced last week that the host of its Rs 10 crore show, Sawal Dus Crore Ka (SDCK), would be Anupam Kher. It made another announcement a day later that it would be looking for a co-host for the show.

Shooting for SDCK has already commenced in Mumbai. The show is slated to debut on 23 October on Zee TV at 8:30 pm and will coinicide with an episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati which has Bollywood actors Sonali Bendre and Aamir Khan in the contestant‘s seats, in a show which starts at 9 pm. It‘s going to take all the creative juices at Zee TV to make audiences stay glued to the channel after 9 pm. Especially after all the euphoria around wannabe IPS officer Harshavardhan Nawate‘s Rs 1 crore performance in today‘s episode of KBC.

Turner Broadcasting has split up its ad sales functions in to two - one looking after news, and the other after entertainment ad sales. The entertainment unit‘s ad sales are to be headed by senior vice-president David Dickman, who has been redesignated as Turner International Advertising Sales executive vice-president looking after Europe, west Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Asia Pacific. Responsibility for news ad sales falls on Kevin Razvi, who has been promoted as executive vice president of TBS International‘s Advertising Sales for the same regions.
Both executives will be based at TBS‘s European headquarters in London and will report to Andy Bird and David Levy, co-presidents of Turner Broadcasting International. Together they will oversee 10 CNN branded television networks, 33 TBS entertainment networks and 35 CNN and entertainment Web sites.

In addition to the promotion of Dickman and Razvi, Richard Chamberlain and Teri Carcano have each been promoted to senior vice president of Turner International Advertising Sales. Chamberlain is based in New York and is responsible for international advertising efforts across the East Coast. Carcano is based in Los Angeles and is responsible for international advertising efforts across the Midwest and Western regions.

They report to Dickman and Razvi. Dickman and Razvi who assume the responsibilities previously held by Levy, who was president of Turner International Advertising Sales, before assuming his current position.

"Turner Broadcasting‘s international businesses are some of the fastest growing areas for the company," says Levy. "This new structure will help us focus equally on our entertainment properties and news services, positioning the company for continued growth and success in the global marketplace and further expansion in the digital arena."

"As clients become more focused on worldwide strategies, this new structure will help us provide smarter, global cross-platform media packages," said Bird. "The speed at which we are developing our branded product and our new distribution channels gives us a real head start."